Add Mark Thomas to Canadians at Daytona

Every year when the two big North American endurance races are held — the 24 Hours of Daytona and the 12 Hours of Sebring — I try to publish the names of all the Canadian drivers who participate and list their finishing positions.

Last year, I printed the names of an even dozen Canucks who drove at Daytona (and this year’s race is only — gulp — three weeks away; where does the time go?). Top Canadian 12 months ago was Mark Wilkins of Toronto, who finished fifth overall. The twelfth name on the list was Mike Forest of Edmonton, who was 27th.

Turns out I missed somebody.

I was reading an online story yesterday about the entry list for this year’s Rolex 24 (as it’s now officially called) and came across this paragraph:

“Mühlner Motorsport has confirmed 20-year-old Dion von Moltke as the third driver of the No. 18 Porsche GT3 for the 49th Rolex 24 At Daytona, joining Mark J. Thomas and Peter Ludwig.”

Okay, so what’s significant about that, you say?

Two paragraphs later, the story said this:

“The team earlier confirmed Canadian driver Thomas, who has been a regular for the Belgian team since 2008, competing successfully in the FIA GT3 European Championship and winning the 24h of Spa in 2008. In 2009 and 2010, Thomas drove for the team in the 24 Hours of Nürburgring Nordschleife and again in the 24 Hours of Spa. He has plenty of experience driving GT cars around the world, including the Rolex 24.”

And I'm reading this and I'm saying to myself: "Thomas Who?"

Turns out that Mark Thomas — who was born in St. Stephen, N.B. — raced Formula Fords in Canada after doing a Jim Russell School in 1985. But shortly thereafter, his real-world work took him overseas and he’s been employed internationally ever since. He’s currently vice-president, operations, for BP in Azerbaijan.

He drove in the Rolex last January — his first North American race in 20 years — and his team finished 33rd. I apologize for missing him and will make sure to include him in this year’s list.

Comments

[Mark J Thomas]

Hello Norris -- all the way from Azerbaijan. Thanks for the blog update. My friends Paul & Monica Strak from Toronto sent me the link.

Yes, this will be my second year at Daytona after not racing in North America since 1988. We are looking for a better result this year as we had some bad luck last year spending over 8 hours in the pitbox.

You will see the Maple Leaf proudly displayed on the Number 18 Muehlner Motorsport Porsche Cup car. Any fellow Canucks in Daytona for the race, please stop in and say hello. Will be at the Roar on Friday-Sunday this week.

[K.R.B.]

Looking ahead to Sebring, and the rest of the ALMS season and 24 Hours of Le Mans -- are we going to be able to see it on TV in Canada? The ALMS will no longer be broadcast on Speed or any live television venue. At present the only coverage available to Canadians will be one-day delayed encapsulations on ABC of four ALMS races. Everything else is on ESPN3.com and delayed encapsulations on ESPN2, both not available in Canada.

And despite the ALMS press release attempting to polish this lump of dung by describing it as "a ground-breaking, multi-year broadcast and digital agreement" , espn3.com is not television coverage. It is a website that is not even available to all Americans, and no Canadians. Unless TSN or someone else in Canada picks up some of this coverage (and I'm not holding my breath waiting for that to happen), we won't be able to see much.

[Adam]

Atherton is running the ALMS down into the ground.
Don does not care, both of them care about only Sebring and Atlanta which are part of the Intercontinental Cup.
No TV= no sponsors. It's simple as that.

[john]

I said much the same elsewhere--I never watched ALMS for any of the prototype classes, they're an overpriced overhyped joke (I mean really, running a whole season with FOUR cars competing? Come on)...

But the GT class has always been decent, and I used to watch it on SPEED, and now if it's ESPN, Canadians are basically out of luck unless TSN gets some rights.

Grand-Am continues to put on consistently better racing in all classes, with higher car counts and lots of star power at the major races. It comes down to arguing technology vs racing... Yeah ALMS has some neat stuff going on in the prototypes but when you want to actually be entertained and watch an exciting race, you watch Grand-Am. As I will continue to do.

[K.R.B.]

ALMS response to anger over lack of live television and lack of TV and internet coverage in Canada included this sentence: "In addition Canada, despite its proximity to the US, is an international property, so an international rights agreement will be put in place as in prior year with a carrier in Canada."

We saw ALMS (mostly live) on Speed, so I'm not sure if that's what they mean when they say there was an agreement with a carrier in Canada. And if the new agreement means we get the same delayed encapsulations on TSN2 or TSN that are going to be on ESPN2, I suppose that's better than nothing, but still not as good what we got from Speed. I will reserve judgement until I hear what TV arrangement, if any, is made for ALMS to be seen in Canada.